Hey, don't mind this post. I am just writing it here as a draft for the NOM forum. I'll recheck it when I feel less groggy.------------

What if a cadre of three blind men crossing the desert were to stumble across Mormonism. If they spread out around the entity, might one exclaim, "It's a religion", another saying, "It's a political party" and the third concluding, "It's a business corporation".

Before these three men move on to seek an oasis or perhaps the Lake Isle of Godmustbearoundsomewhere, what do you make of these three observations? Did they find three distinct entities who collectively think as one, simply miss an overall trinity or perhaps fail to see the Conservative Abrahamic Corporation of Latter Day Saints?

Perhaps the analogy would work better with three sighted space aliens representing a more highly evolved species.

(Actually we can easily guess what their conclusion would be - Mormonism is manifestation of a severely undeveloped and inadequately evolved society that still requires magic and superstition as a part of its culture.)

_________________ David Hume: "---Mistakes in philosophy are merely ridiculous, those in religion are dangerous."

DrW: "Mistakes in science are learning opportunities and are eventually corrected."

At the risk of taking your analogy far too literally, how do you propose that these three "blind" individuals would encounter Mormonism?

(Actually we can easily guess what their conclusion would be - Mormonism is manifestation of a severely undeveloped and inadequately evolved society that still requires magic and superstition as a part of its culture.)

I supose for analogy purposes, it would be best if they conducted their examination with their spiritual eyes.

If two roads diverged in the Sacred Grove, one leading back to Palmyra and the other to a rather large rabbit hole, should we not take the path less traveled and lead the life less ordinary? The blind men were already taking that road with their desert journey. When they encounted objects on their journey, their most satisfying explanation was the one which best suited them.

What if three blind men crossing the desert together were to stumble across Mormonism. If they spread out around the entity, might one exclaim, "It's a religion", another saying, "It's a political party" and the third concluding, "It's a business corporation".

Before these three men move on to seek an oasis or perhaps the Lake Isle of Godexists, what do you make of these three observations? Did they find three distinct entities who collectively think as one or simply miss the overall trinity?

Seems to me that any of the blind men's conclusions were of much less importance than the desert journey itself.